Only Love
by delusionment
Summary: -Sequel to First Love- Gendry had the experience to know what women were like, but there was only one woman he loved with all his heart. Modern AU. Arya x Gendry. Oneshot.


(- -)

Only Love

He was eighteen.

As he was growing up, he did not see how he was like his father. He may have looked exactly like him in his youth, but that was where the similarities ended. But when Gendry went back to Nottingham to go to university there, he started to see more pieces of his father in him.

His father had the reputation for alcohol and women. The only time he was ever absent of both was when he worked in his company for money to get more of both.

At Nottingham, Gendry felt freedom. It was the freedom to do whatever he wanted without his father watching him. So while he studied during the day, he partied at night. He had developed a taste for drinking, and in the morning, he would wake up with a random girl naked beside him. That was his father he started to see in himself.

That was what he hated. He hated the knowledge that he liked drinking and he liked the pleasures of sex. He hated to be his father in those respects.

That was what he vowed to change about himself.

(- -)

He was twenty-eight.

He could remember the first time he met Arya Stark. She was ten, short, and boyish looking.

The Arya Stark he saw across the ballroom was nothing like she was at ten. She was twenty-four, tall, and gorgeous, more gorgeous than anyone he had ever dated before. Her pale skin contrasted her long, wavy dark hair. That dark makeup made her gray eyes stick out too. And that dress…it showed off her body in all the right places, especially her legs; she had nice, lean legs.

He had felt desire for other women, but this was a bit different. He couldn't quite place what it was.

He didn't realize his father coming up beside him and clapping him on the back. "How are you doing, boy?" he asked.

Gendry chuckled. "Fine, dad. Feels like a normal gathering. We've known these people for years, after all."

"So you're bored?"

"Not really." Gendry's eyes wandered over to Arya again. She and Sansa were speaking to Maege Mormont and her daughters. He watched Arya say something that made the other ladies laugh. He tried to hide his smile behind his champagne glass, but his father noticed it.

"Maybe it's in our blood," Robert said quietly.

"What is?"

"Baratheons falling for Starks."

Gendry couldn't argue with that. His family had, at one point, liked someone from the Stark family. His older sister Mya once had a tiny thing for Robb and Jon when she first met them. He remembered her glancing at them both every once in a while and remarking at how cute they were. Edric thought Sansa was quite pretty, too, but his brother knew he was way out of his league with her and that notion was dropped quickly. Then there was little Barra who had a crush on Rickon Stark, but even she knew it was a lost cause with Rickon at eighteen and about to leave for York in the fall.

The one who fell the hardest though was his father. His father had been in love with Lyanna Stark in their youth. Robert told him stories of how he would propose to Lyanna almost every day since she hit puberty and her looks matured. She turned him down, laughing each time. Gendry could see the pain on his dad's face when he would recount when the proposals stopped and the laughing ceased. Because when Lyanna was eighteen, she, her brother Brandon, and their father were driving when a semi-truck crashed into their car and killed them all. Gendry knew his father wasn't quite over that, and he doubted he ever would.

Now, Gendry was the latest to fall for a Stark. Or at least, be enchanted by one.

Robert followed where Gendry's eyes were looking. He nodded in approval. "She's gotten mighty pretty since I last saw her," he said. "She was just a child when Ned allowed her to go off to Italy."

_That's right. She went to Italy for secondary school,_ thought Gendry. He remembered when she celebrated getting her acceptance letter for Braavos.

"Italy's been good to her," Gendry said without thinking.

Robert laughed gruffly. "She looks like her aunt now."

They watched as Arya excused herself and started off in the direction of the bathroom. She looked over her shoulder to see if Sansa was watching before grabbing a glass of champagne from a passing tray. She walked to the other side of the ballroom.

His father smacked him on the back again. "Go on," he said. "It's clear you like her."

Gendry glanced at his father and then at Arya, who was now standing against the wall, watching all the other guests. He approached her without another word.

(- -)

He was twenty-nine.

When Gendry had reached the restaurant, Robb was already there waiting for him. A cigarette was between his lips, and when he caught sight of him, he took a long drag. His face was serious as his blue eyes bore into Gendry's. His older brother face was up. Rickon must have said something about the kiss he saw last night.

"I can already tell that this won't be like the other times we've hung out before," joked Gendry as he sat down at the table, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants.

"What do you think you're doing with Arya?" asked Robb. His face was serious as his blue eyes bore into Gendry's. His older brother face was up. "Rickon told me he caught you two kissing last night."

_So that little shit did say something_, thought Gendry.

"I like her," he said simply.

Robb scowled. "She isn't like the other girls you've dated, if you could call it that. Jeyne was the only one you ever actually dated."

Gendry narrowed his eyes at him, anger flaring up in his chest. He didn't need to be reminded of his past indiscretions with relationships. He didn't want to be his father, but he had realized that he was acting like him in any case but in a slightly different manner. His father had sex with any girl he could charm the pants off. After his drunken trysts in his uni days, Gendry simply just dated a girl for a month or two before breaking up with her and moving on to the next one. What he was truly looking for was never there. His longest was Jeyne, of course, but he had his reasons for staying with her.

"Robb, I—"

"Arya's my sister, for fuck's sake, Gendry!" snarled Robb. He was definitely pissed off now. "You will _not_ mess with her like you have with your past girlfriends!"

"I never said I was going to," he snapped. "Before you go getting your cock all shriveled up, did you ever stop to think that I might actually really like her? I'm not so heartless that I would start asking her out with the intention of getting in her pants. If I was an asshole, you and I wouldn't be friends right now, and I would have been in Sansa's pants long before moving for Arya."

Robb leaned over and punched Gendry in the face.

Gendry grit his teeth as he felt pain quickly spread across his face. Robb always had a good punch to him. He never thought he'd be on the receiving end of it though. He glared at Robb. "You done? Or do you want to take another swing at me to make yourself feel better?" he asked, trying to ignore the pain in his face and his own temptation to return the favor with a punch of his own.

"_Why_ does it have to be her?" asked Robb, clenching his fist. "I know you're over Jeyne and all, but why does it have to be one of my sisters?"

"Because I like her, stupid. You know I've been with women before. I know what I've felt for them. I know what I've felt for Jeyne, and it was nothing compared to how I felt when I saw your sister at your rehearsal dinner."

Robb glared at him. "If you hurt her—"

"You'll kill me. I get that," cut in Gendry. "Don't think that I haven't thought about this before."

Robb breathed in the smoke of his cigarette. He took another whiff and said, "You're a bastard."

"And you're a dick." Gendry gestured to his face, which was still tingling in pain. "Really? Punching me in the face? That's mature."

Robb's older brother face disappeared and was replaced with the look of a friend. He chuckled. "Sorry. I'm just pissed off." He shrugged and added, "If I made a sexual crack about your sisters, you'd punch me too."

"Not unless Mya beat me to the punch." Gendry laughed. "Pun intended."

Robb pressed his cigarette into the ash tray. "And you really won't hurt Arya?"

"I won't."

He nodded. "Now that the big brother business is out of the way, what do you want to eat?"

(- -)

He was twenty-seven.

Jeyne Heddle stared back at him, her face void of emotion. "We should see other people," she said.

He didn't answer at first. He didn't really know what to feel. He wasn't sad or angry or relieved or happy. He was just as empty of emotion as Jeyne was. "Why?" he finally asked, though it was such an unnecessary question.

"You _know_ why," she answered.

"Yeah…"

They had been dating for two years. Their friends and family thought that they were happy and that they would get married and live the perfect life. Their relationship was nothing of the sort. Behind the scenes, they were never violent nor did they fight. It was just quiet. Boring.

In the first several months of their relationship, Gendry could honestly say that they were happy. Jeyne was quite pretty though not really his type. Maybe that was their downfall. He had dated her because she was pretty and the match was considered to be a good one in everything but the heart. As cold as it was to admit, Gendry didn't love her. Perhaps as a friend, but not the way a man was to love a woman. Their relationship had no passion whatsoever.

Perhaps the reason why they stayed together for two years was because they hoped that it would get better.

Jeyne stood up, smoothing out invisible wrinkles from her skirt and grabbed her purse. She leaned forward, pressing a light kiss on his cheek. "Goodbye, Gendry. I pray that you find a woman who will make you happy."

Gendry smiled apologetically. "And I hope that you find a man who will bring you your happiness. I'm sorry it's not me."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," she said. "We did this to ourselves and to each other."

She gave him a remorseful smile and left. That was the last time he ever saw her.

(- -)

He was twenty-eight.

_This is only coffee. It's not a date_, Gendry thought to himself as he sat down at a table with his cup. _It could be a date. Does she think it's a date?_

He wanted to hit his head on the table. He had never been nervous before when it came to going out with a girl. Back in uni, he had learned to charm the opposite sex. It came naturally to him; then again, it was probably his father's genes doing the talking. Gendry wasn't nervous when he first asked Arya out to coffee, or even when he frequently danced with her at Robb's wedding. But why now?

He had been so lost in thought that he didn't realize Arya had arrived and sat down in front of him with her coffee.

"Hi," she greeted. "I'm sorry I'm late. Were you waiting long?"

Gendry looked up and smiled. "No, don't worry about it."

Arya returned his smile and laughed. "Oh good. I just came from work."

"Work?"

"My dad's office," she said. "Didn't you know? He made me a system analyst in the company." Arya averted her eyes to her cup and took a sip.

"You don't seem very enthusiastic about it," he remarked.

"It's an okay job," she answered with a shrug. "It's not really something I want to do for the rest of my life."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"I can do a lot of things with my degree. I can study again and go to law school. I can work in business. I can work with administration or management. I can work for the government. I can do anything I want."

"But what do _you_ want to do?" he asked. She looked up, their eyes locking. Her eyes really were a stunner. At a glance they were gray, but the more he stared into them, the more he felt like he could see a bit of blue behind them. Maybe her mother's Tully eyes weren't completely lost on her.

Arya's eyes drifted back to her cup again. "I must be very boring," she said quietly. "I've just been talking about myself."

"Not at all," he said with a grin. "Go on."

She was quiet for a moment before saying, "To be honest, I don't know what I want to do." She shrugged. "It's ironic. I was ten when I knew that I wanted to get into Braavos. I was nineteen when I knew that I wanted to get into Cambridge and earn my masters in philosophy. Now I'm twenty-four, and I have no clue what I want to do for the rest of my life."

Gendry took a sip of his coffee. "You're right. It is ironic. At ten, you're just a kid and you don't know what you want. At nineteen, you're chasing your future. At twenty-four, you either have the future you want, or you're still chasing it. So, I say that you're still chasing."

Arya snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, chasing a future that even I don't know." He watched her trace the rim of her cup with her finger, and a small smile appeared on her lips. "I've done my share of chasing and running though."

He tilted his head to the side slightly. What on earth was she talking about? "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Her eyes met his again. There was warmth in her eyes, but he couldn't quite grasp what it was. Whatever it was, he rather liked it. "Nothing," she said, chuckling with a smile.

That look alone was enough to undo the knots in his stomach. She was enchanting him further and further, and he didn't want anyone to break that spell.

(- -)

He was thirty.

He had been Arya's first for a lot of things: he was her first boyfriend, first kiss, and now he was her _first_.

He had numerous lovers in the past, which allowed him to know what women's bodies were like, know what they _liked_. His earliest encounters were just drunken fumbles, but that hardly made a difference since he couldn't remember what happened in the morning. Sex with his short lived girlfriends was passionate, driven on lust. Sex with Jeyne Heddle bore no passion, no desire.

But this was completely different. He loved Arya, more than he had ever loved anything or anyone in his life. In truth, they hadn't said those three words to each other yet, but it was a mutual understanding between them.

This moment was not a race to hit that peak, but to make sure that their first time together would be memorable. He did not want this to be on her list of regrets. So he took his time with her, pressing kisses to her skin, memorizing everything about her body. He learned all her sensitive spots like behind her ear or her collarbone. He loved the sounds of her breath coming out in anticipated spurts as his hands slowly traveled across her skin. He wanted her so much, then and there, but he slid his fingers inside her first, and later his tongue, slowly drawing out her waves of pleasure despite her impatient sounds and frustration to hit the climax her body was climbing towards.

Their lips were locked when he entered her for the first time, and he could taste her sharp gasp of pain. She was so tight, so tense around him.

"Relax," he whispered in her ear. "Relax, Arya." She let out a small breathy laugh as he kissed her, trying to kiss the pain away and distract her. When he felt her body ease up, he moved, slowly. He resisted the urge to move faster. She was still raw, tender; the next time when she wasn't so sore, he wanted to teach her a hundred different ways to make love.

(- -)

He was twenty-nine.

It was Rickon who answered the door. He leaned against the doorframe and cocked an eyebrow.

"Hey, Rickon," Gendry greeted. "Is Arya ready to go out yet?"

"She will be," said Rickon. The boy had always been friendly with him as he was growing up, but Gendry could notice the coolness in his voice now. "You've been taking my sister out an awful lot these past few months."

Gendry shrugged, trying to stay casual. He hadn't properly asked Arya out yet. He wanted to keep things casual between them at first. He continued to ask her out to coffee, and then increased it to lunch dates and then to dinner and a movie. But he hadn't asked out on a proper date where they could dress up and have dinner in the park by candlelight. "We're friends," he said.

Rickon looked unconvinced. "Right," he said in a bored voice.

_I feel like he always knows more than he lets on_, thought Gendry.

Arya came down the stairs, frowning. "Rickon, where the fuck is my fucking coat?" she yelled. She caught sight of Gendry in the doorway and blanched. "Oh. Hi."

He chuckled. "Hey. Almost ready?"

She laughed, abashed that he had heard her crassness. "Um, yeah. Just…need to find my coat. You know." She looked at her brother. "Rickon?"

"Maybe it's in the coat closet where it's supposed to be," Rickon said with a slight sneer.

Arya walked over to pinch his cheek, hard. "Shut up."

Rickon slapped her hand away and stalked off towards the living room. Arya quickly got her coat from the closet. She grinned. "All ready!"

They went and saw an action movie before going to get some pizza. When they were done with dinner, it wasn't late yet. He drove them to a park, and they both laid down in the back of his truck to stare up at the dark sky and the stars spread out across it.

"That one's Orion over there," said Arya, point up at a cluster of stars.

Gendry narrowed his eyes to try to see it better. It didn't look like what he saw from books. "Is it really?" he asked.

"I dunno," she laughed. "I took a course on astrology when I was in Italy."

"How did that turn out?"

"It was all right. Easy A. I didn't like staying up late to stare into a telescope though." Arya pointed at a particularly bright star. "I think that's Venus right there."

"Is it?"

"Could be." She smiled at him and sat up. "Take me home?"

"Sure."

He always had urges to kiss her, but he felt those invisible fists punching him away and telling him not to do it. Not yet. But he was tired to being pushed away when he really just wanted her. He drove her home and walked her to her door. Standing on the front steps of her house, he felt that spark of wanting to kiss her and he didn't want to waste it.

"Later Gendry," said Arya. She smiled and started to pull her house keys out.

His hand shot out and he grasped her hand, stopping her. Before she could question him, he quickly leaned in, his lips pressed against hers. It was only a short kiss. When he moved back, they stared at each other. He couldn't tell if she was surprised or angry. Arya cupped his face in her hands and pulled him down, their lips meeting. She was just as eager as he was. Lips parted and tongues slid against each other.

The sound of the front door opening and slamming against the wall made them jump apart. Rickon was in the doorway, his eyebrow cocked again. There was a sort of silent fury on his face. Gendry watched Arya smile as she averted her eyes to her shoes. She rolled her lips as if to savor their kiss.

"Bye," she said almost shyly, blush dusting across her cheeks.

Gendry couldn't suppress his grin. "Bye."

Arya went inside her house biting her lip, trying to stop herself from smiling. Rickon scowled at him before shutting the door and turning the lock.

Gendry went back to his truck, a bit of bounce in his step.

(- -)

He was thirty.

She was fuming, doing her best to keep a distance between them as she stomped down the street, her ponytail moving wildly side to side with each step.

"You are _un_believable," she snarled, clutching her sweater tighter in her hand, not bothering to look at him.

"What did you expect me to do?" Gendry asked, his voice cool.

She whirled around suddenly to face him, fire flickering in those icy gray eyes. "Not to _punch_ Ned in the face!"

His temper flared up in his chest again as he remembered what happened. He and Arya had gone to the movies. While waiting at the concession stand, an old girlfriend of his had come up to say hello. They talked for a moment when Edric Dayne, the nephew of Arthur Dayne and a family friend of the Starks and Baratheons, came up to say hello. Edric was friendly enough, but Gendry didn't like the way he talked to Arya. He could see it in his eyes that he liked her, and it pissed him off.

_You can desire for another man's girl, but you never touch her_, thought Gendry.

And that was what Edric did; touch her. Gendry had watched him tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and the chains of self-control snapped off. Before he could stop himself, Gendry had punched Edric in the face and yelled at him not to touch Arya.

"He deserved it," he answered. In truth, he felt a bit guilty about punching Edric, but he was tired of men staring at Arya and wanting her. It was obvious that she was with him, and she had been for a year. But even when they were together and holding hands and occasionally stealing kisses, men had the gall to stop and gape at her as if she were a prize to be eaten up.

_She's mine_, he thought, angrily. _So stop staring at her, dammit!_

Arya growled in frustration. "You're ridiculous, Gendry! You can't go getting jealous of every guy who even dares to come close to me!" she yelled, ignoring the stares of people on the street. "And what about _you?_"

"Me? What about me?"

"Oh don't play dumb about the little slut at the concession stand," she snarled.

Gendry frowned. "She's just an ex-girlfriend! She means nothing to me!"

"Yeah, sure."

When Jon found out about him and Arya, Jon never punched him in the face like Robb did. He only got a call from him. It was a straight up warning; Jon told Arya about Gendry's past relationships before Jeyne Heddle and if he ever did the same thing to Arya, there would be blood on his hands. The knowledge of his past relationships made Arya jealous time to time. It especially was bad when they would run into his old girlfriends. He could tell that his exes would have loved to get back together with him, and he could tell that Arya was so close to punching them. She never did though. She had a lot more self-restraint than he did.

"Who's being ridiculous now?"

Arya's face darkened. "You know what? We're not doing this anymore! I'm sick of your exes coming up to you. I'm sick of you getting jealous over guys that do the most innocent things for me! I'm _tired_ of this!"

"Arya—"

It stung. The anger drained out of him and was replaced with panic. He knew where this was heading, and he didn't want to head down that path. Not now, not ever.

"It's over, Gendry. Done. Game over!" Arya cast him a tired look and started walking away.

He ran after her. "Arya! Wait!"

"Just leave me alone, Gendry!" she screamed. She started walking faster towards her car.

"Arya!"

"Go away!" She broke out into a run, and he followed her. She was fast though. She disarmed the alarm, yanked the door open, and drove out of her spot without bothering to check if it was safe.

Gendry stood on the street, watching where Arya's car was before. He didn't know what to do. When he was sixteen, he never thought about ever being in a relationship with her. Back then, she was just Robb and Jon's baby sister. But now, he knew that she was the one and only woman he ever wanted.

His sister Mya was a bit of a romantic. As they were growing up, he watched her watch movies full of romance, and she would always quote, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Those words came back to him, and he realized that was wrong.

_You need to say sorry when you're in love_, he thought. _If you don't, then you're too proud to own up to your problems._

And his pride didn't mean _shit_ when it came to love.

He waited a day to speak to Arya. He knew that she needed space and time to cool down, but that day without her was horrible for him. He had gone days without seeing her before. It couldn't be helped. His father sent him on business trips time to time, and Ned sometimes sent Arya to branches of his company to deal with them. That was nothing compared to this.

He called his father to tell him he was sick and couldn't go to work that day. Robert almost told him off, but stopped when he heard that it had to do with Arya.

"Get your shit together with her," Robert said gruffly and hung up.

He went to see her at the park the next day. She always liked having her lunch there since it was within walking distance of her father's company. She was where she always was for lunch; sitting on a bench in front of the pond. Gendry sat down beside her on the bench.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," she greeted softly.

He could see it in her eyes that she was as miserable as him. "I'm sorry about everything," he said. "Punching Ned. Getting jealous. I'll work on it, I swear."

"I'll work on my jealousy issues, too," answered Arya. She shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's just never easy to know that you've had so many notches on your bedpost—"

"I don't care about those notches, Arya."

"What about Jeyne Heddle?"

"What I felt for her was never romantic. I've only felt that for you." He moved in closer, putting an arm around her. "I love you. You need to know that," he said. He kissed her softly. "I really fucking love you."

She smiled, laughing lightly. She kissed him back and murmured against his lips, "I really fucking love you, too."

"This is the first time we've ever said that to each other."

Arya nodded, smiling. "It sure is. I love hearing it."

He kissed her again and again; each time being sweeter than the last. "Me too."

(- -)

He was thirty-one.

He had been running his fingers through her hair when she woke up. She smiled at him and began rubbing her eyes.

"Morning," she said softly.

"Morning," he replied with a grin.

There was a small knot of nerves in his stomach as he watched her. It was his initial plan to propose to her at night while riding the London Eye, but Arya was no romantic. So he slipped a ring onto her left hand while she was sleeping. It was a fine piece of work, but expensive. It was a platinum ring with an oval alexandrite with two diamond side stones on each side. The alexandrite was green under indoor light, but it was a bluish-gray when outside. He thought the ring in natural light would bring out her eyes the best.

It didn't take her long to notice the ring on her finger. She stared at it for moment before turning to kiss him. He grinned against her lips and hooked a hand behind her knee and pulled her on top of him. He groaned when she slid on top him, and he held her steady by the hips.

"'Arya Baratheon' suits you, yeah?" he asked, grinning, as she started to move. Arya never cared about what position they had sex in as long they did, but Gendry loved it when she was on top. The view was always _stunning_.

"I love the sound of it," she said breathlessly.

_The fun part is going to be telling everyone_, he thought. And it was.

**Gendry Baratheon** is now engaged to **Arya Stark**.

**Sansa Stark**, **Bran Stark**, **Barra Baratheon** and **207** **others** like this.

**View all 108 comments**

**Bran Stark** Call me this instant, **Arya Stark**.

**Jeyne Westerling** Congratulations both of you! :)

**Margaery Tyrell** Congrats! I am so looking forward to you guys having lots of sex and babies. :D

**Gendry Baratheon** Wtf Margaery? xD

**Mya Baratheon** AHHHHHHHHHH I'M SO HAPPY FOR BOTH OF YOU! :D

**Robb Stark** Gendry, you little shit. I have to find out about the engagement through here?

**Jon Snow** My baby sister and my best friend are getting married? D: Fuck this.

**Arya Stark** Rude. Be happy for me, assholes.

**Jon Snow** No. You're not marrying Gendry.

**Robb Stark** I agree.

**Arya Stark** Too bad. It's gonna happen no matter what you say.

**Ygritte Wildes** My boyfriend is just beside himself with worry.

**Gendry Baratheon** Could you change his mind for us, **Ygritte**? ;)

**Ygritte Wildes** On it. :)

**Renly Baratheon** I wish you all the happiness in the world, nephew. :)

**Barra Baratheon** Congratulations big bro!

**Sansa Stark** Congratulations, my loves!

**Edric Baratheon** Congrats. (:

**Rickon Stark** If you make my sister unhappy, I'll sic Shaggydog on you. Js.

**Edric Baratheon** I wouldn't put it past him to carry out that threat.

**Gendry Baratheon** I'll always keep Arya happy no matter what. :) I love her.

**Arya Stark** I love you. :)

* * *

So it's been like...a month of writing this on and off. I am so sorry for everyone who has been waiting for this. I wasn't originally going to write this, but then with someone saying they would have loved to read about their date to watching Chris and Jal's scenes in _Skins_, I got my inspiration. xD Gendry and Arya's first kiss, to them saying "I love you" is modeled after their scenes too.

Although, I'm swearing that I think this feels a bit OOC. I'm kicking myself over it.

Writing this from Gendry's POV with a similar style to "First Love" was more difficult. "First Love" takes place during a fourteen year time span, while this one is mostly within four years. It was difficult to order each part while keeping the flow going well.


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